And on the Third Night
by dwparsnip
Summary: Rodney stands Jennifer up for dinner three nights in a row and she's had enough. Big time emphasis on 'Ghost in the Machine'. Therefore spoiler warnings are in effect.


I do no own Stargate Atlantis or any of its characters…MGM does I guess.

SPOILERS for 'Ghost in the Machine'…if you haven't seen the episode or know what happens in it you may not want to read this, and there's a reference to the happenings in 'The Game'. Assumes that there's something going on between them, but neither knows exactly what. I don't either for that matter.

To NoDoubtFan who took the time to give this a going over for me: Thank you kindly.

And thanks to you all for reading.

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For the third night in a row, Jennifer waited for someone she knew wouldn't come to the table that had unofficially been deemed hers by the culinary staff. It was all bad enough that she repeated the scene for three nights and received the same knowing and sympathetic looks from the Mess' staff each night, but to know it was going to happen…

Yet she came here and waited, barely touching her own food and unable for one of the first times in her life to find it within herself to actually care about what was happening around her. She came and waited for Rodney to come and have dinner with her, as they had done for nearly every night for two weeks before Elizabeth came back- sort of. It was something out of a science fiction novel the way that Elizabeth returned to Atlantis, disembodied and in the form of an electrical current that played havoc with many of the city's systems. She gave herself new life, in a way, when she used the Ancient machine and built herself a replicator body to house her mind. And when Elizabeth decided that her life, along with those of the other replicators should be extinguished for the good of Atlantis and the galaxy in general, it was heroism in its truest form, for what greater heroism is there than sacrificing yourself for the sake and safety of others?

It was that abiding spirit that proved once and for all that it had been Elizabeth. There were a few who still harbored some doubt, mostly those who simply couldn't get past the fact that she didn't look like Elizabeth Weir, but for those who had truly known Atlantis' first leader it was a certainty.

The morning after Elizabeth walked through the wormhole and removed from Atlantis a potentially fatal threat, she found Rodney working feverishly on some project in the lab. He was at his own table typing madly at his laptop which was surrounded by empty coffee cups, the majority of which had been tipped over and now rested on their sides like lonely sentinels that had been unable to perform their duties any longer and succumbed to the need for rest.

When she spoke to Rodney he didn't look up from his work, claiming that it was too important and too near completion to be interrupted. She could understand and respect that by putting herself into a similar situation: in the Infirmary, for example, trying to develop an antidote to some deadly disease and almost having it. So instead of hovering around and distracting him she asked him if he was going to meet her for dinner. In hindsight the way he hesitated and only half looked up from his computer should have been a sign that something was amiss, but at the time she took his assurance that he would be there at face value. She didn't have a reason not to. And so it was that she went to the Mess later that day and waited for him to arrive, much as she had tonight. When he didn't show up, she assumed that his work hadn't been completed or something else came up, which wouldn't be an uncommon occurrence.

The next morning she found him in nearly the exact same position. In fact the only difference that she could easily discern was the addition of several more empty coffee cups to the immediate area around his computer. She scolded him gently about standing her up and for the first time in a couple of days he looked at her…really looked at her. His eyes had lost some of their usual brightness, she noted sadly at the time, but she could once again understand that if he'd been working most of the night. He promised that he would see her at dinner that night and resumed his work. She left the lab that day and suspected that she wouldn't have his company to enjoy for dinner. Her suspicions were proven true when she once again ended up eating alone. Well, not alone per se, the Mess was alive with activity and filled with people from all over the Earth, but in the sense that really mattered she was alone in that little sea of humanity, wondering and worrying about Rodney. And not that she really ate much either. Her appetite, like Rodney apparently, had gone missing in action.

This morning when she walked into the lab he was nowhere to be found, and relief and worry warred within her simultaneously. She felt relief because he had gotten up from that damned chair and the abandoned coffee cups had been cleaned up. It was also a relief, and somewhat of a surprise, that his laptop was closed and resting peacefully on the table. On the other side of the coin, she couldn't help but feel a little worried as well. He wasn't in his lab nor had he bothered to call her.

She managed to find him an hour later in one of the Puddle Jumpers repairing its navigational systems, or so he explained to her when she tapped him on the shoulder. The look on her face must have spoke volumes because he managed to pick up on the anger and anxiety that had been enveloping her. He immediately began muttering a long-winded excuse about needing to repair the nav system immediately. The fact that he kept hesitating and he suddenly found the tablet in his lap so interesting that he wouldn't look up at her told her that he was fabricating the whole thing. She told him she'd forgive him if he promised to have dinner with her tonight. He agreed after some vacillation, and she felt no better about the prospects of him actually showing up than she did the night before, but she was willing to give him one more chance.

She pushed her plate away and stared at it, though her lack of interest meant that she never really saw it all. Rodney was pushing her away and she didn't like it, not at all. She worked too hard to see through the protective cocoon he'd surrounded himself with, endured too much to allow him to slip away from her so easily. Her feelings for the astrophysicist had grown and changed over time. It started out as a mandatory tolerance- that is to say, she tolerated his condescending attitude and obnoxiousness because she was Atlantis' CMO and he was the head scientist. They were going to be working together and that was that. She didn't know exactly when it happened, but that tolerance change into acceptance and eventually friendship. The fact that they were both highly intelligent may have helped, especially because she didn't get overwhelmed by his long words and attitude; that attitude of superiority that she unfortunately had some experience dealing with from her college days.

If she didn't know when she began feeling friendship towards Rodney McKay, she was completely in the dark about when she started caring for him. After the mine incident or before the mine incident, before they rescued Teyla or after they rescued Teyla, she had stopped trying to figure it out and accepted that it had happened and it was best not to dwell on the details and concentrate instead on Rodney. She was falling for him she realized, and now he was pulling away.

That angered her, and anger of that sort was a feeling she was very uncomfortable with to say the least.

She leaned back in her chair and waved back to one of her nurses who had waved to her. She lowered her hand and for the first time that evening she really looked around the Mess. She knew most if not everyone's names, but three faces she had expected to find were not present. She thought about it a little more and realized that she hadn't seen or heard from Colonel Sheppard, Teyla or Ronon in a few days too.

She sighed and looked at her watch. _"7:49,"_ she said to herself. She threw a hopeful glance at the door, hoping to see Rodney walking in or standing there looking for her, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"_Okay Rodney,"_ she thought crossly, _"It's time we had a talk."_

Jennifer braced her hands on the edge of the table and pushed herself away from it, her newfound determination to take the bull by the horns enabling her to ignore the fact that her chair made a God awful scraping sound against the floor. It drew curious looks from those around her, but she was oblivious to those as well as she walked through the Mess towards the exit.

"_Which way…which way?"_ she asked herself as she neared the first intersection. The corridor to the left would take her first to a transporter unit that would give her access to the North and South piers, crew quarters and the Infirmary. A short distance after the transporter was the Control Room and access to the Jumper Bay. In the right hand corridor was another transporter that would enable her to transport to the East and West piers, the labs, the brig and the maintenance areas.

She didn't break or ease her stride as she reached the intersection, having decided to turn left and go to the Control Room. Even if he wasn't there, she would have a better chance of being able to determine where he was hiding from there than anywhere else.

That thought annoyed her even further, the idea that he would be hiding from her, but then it eased as she remembered who it was she was thinking about. Rodney wasn't the best at the "touchy-feely stuff" as he once described. It was something that she'd come to accept and, despite herself, adore. Something was bothering him and he was shutting her out. Instead of getting angry with him for being who he was, for being the man she was quite possibly falling in love with, she had to be understanding, compassionate and tenacious. She may even need to be cunning.

She entered the control room from the entrance on the balcony that was to the left of Woolsey's office and walked swiftly towards the only person on duty at that moment: Chuck. She peeked into Woolsey's office to make sure Rodney wasn't in there and then veered towards Chuck. He was sitting in his chair looking at his station with some annoyance if the creased brow and slight frown was any indication. It was an odd sight really, seeing Chuck with a frown.

And for some reason, the frown deepened when he looked up and saw her walking towards him. In fact, as she got closer the Canadian gate technician looked like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming Mack truck, and that didn't bode well.

"Hi, Chuck," she said kindly when she reached his console. She moved to stand at the backside of the console so that she could face him and only minimally interrupt his work. "Have you seen McKay anywhere?"

She watched him intently, her practiced medical eye watching for any physical signs of untruthfulness from the gate tech.

"No, ma'am," he said deliberately. "I haven't seen him."

The way he annunciated every syllable and with a lower than normal voice told her that something wasn't right. On the other hand, he maintained eye contact with her, not even glancing away for a second or blinking more than usual. He wasn't fidgeting or making any other movements that she could see or take as signs that he was lying to her, nor did he offer any more information or talk to her more than he had to.

"Oh," she said, the disappointment making her reply come out more like low puff of air than an actual word.

She saw him swallow hard and glance down to his board. To her he seemed to be trying to make a very hard decision. Taking pity on the poor guy she clasped her hands behind her back to get them out of the way and leaned in towards the console. The top edge of the console was low enough so that she could lean in towards Chuck, and when she was as close as she dared get she whispered, "Where is he, Chuck?" He offered her an obviously forced smile, and then looked down to his board before opening his mouth to respond. In that split second of hesitation Jennifer knew he was about to lie to her. "Chuck?" she said softly. The tech closed his mouth and looked up to her. She could practically see his defenses disintegrate before her very eyes. "Please."

Chuck sighed as he leaned back in his chair and let his arms fall into his lap. "He called a few minutes ago from one of the auxiliary labs in the East pier," he replied softly, and if she didn't know better, with sympathetic understanding. "The Game Room, we call it."

"The Game Room?" Jennifer asked uncertainly.

Chuck nodded and explained. "It's a lab that Doctor McKay and Colonel Sheppard found in the East pier not long after they got here. There were a bunch of computers in there that seemed like game consoles and they started playing, only it wasn't a game. Whatever they did in the game happened in real life on M4D-058, including almost starting a war." Chuck shrugged and added, "They managed to stop it in time and Doctor Weir ordered that the room be shut down, but every once in a while Doctor McKay goes down there just to check up on them to see how they're progressing."

Jennifer leaned back and put her hands on the top edge of the console. "How do I find that lab?"

Chuck sat up and looked around the control center for something. "Ha!" he exclaimed when he found what he was looking for. He rolled his chair over to the console to his right, picked up the tablet that was lying there and then with another push of his legs rolled back to his own console. He placed the tablet on his desk and opened it. After typing in several commands he turned it around so that she could read what was displayed on the screen.

"This map will lead you to it," explained Chuck as he pointed to the screen. "Just go out the way you came in and go straight until you get to the second transporter that isn't far from the Mess and take it to," he pointed to a specific location on the screen and said, "here, in the East pier." He leaned back in his chair again. "After that, just follow the instructions on the screen."

Jennifer reached down and picked up the tablet. She studied the screen for a moment, committing the floor plan and instructions to memory. After passing the tablet back to Chuck she smiled at him appreciatively and said, "Thank you, Chuck." She gave him a playful smile and joked quietly, "Just for this I'll avoid using the really big needles at your next check up."

Chuck laughed and then said, "I'd appreciate that, Doctor."

Jennifer nodded at the Canadian and turned to walk away, but she thought of something and turned back towards him. "Is there any way we can tell if he's…"

Before she could finish asking the question Chuck reached over and hit a couple of controls on his console. When he was finished he turned to look at the big screen behind him.

Jennifer turned her attention to the screen as well. On it was a computer generated floor plan of the section of the East pier in which the lab in question was located. And there, in the Game Room, was a single pulsating blip.

Chuck turned around to face her and said, "He's the only one who ever goes in there."

"Chuck," she said softly, "he told you not to tell me where were he was, didn't he?"

Chuck sighed and shook his head. "He never mentioned anyone specific, Doctor. He just said not to tell anyone he was down there."

Jennifer gave the young man a strained smile. "Thank you, Chuck."

"My pleasure, Doctor," he replied with a smile of his own.

Jennifer turned and headed for the exit, and once out into the corridor she turned and walked quickly towards the transporter. The doors slid open as she approached allowing her to march right into the small room. She studied the transporter panel and, keeping her finger an inch off the panel itself, she traced over the available destinations showing on the luminescent screen and remembered the display on Chuck's tablet. She moved her hand to the blip that represented the transporter that she wanted to end up in and pressed the screen. She heard the doors slide shut behind her and closed her eyes before the bright beam washed over her. She kept her eyes closed until she heard the doors open and when they did she walked out of the closet like room and stopped to get her bearings. The instructions flashed through her mind, telling her she needed to go left.

She started moving thorough the corridor, acutely aware that the lighting in this part of the city wasn't quite as bright as it was in the more commonly travelled areas. She continued on until she came upon the second intersection. She turned right and walked on, counting the doors in her head as she went along. When she arrived at the fifth door she stopped and peered inside.

The room was big compared to most she'd seen in Atlantis, and it was one of the few rooms she'd seen so far that had stairs running down along the wall of a room. She moved inside and stood at the top of the stairs to take in the rest of the room. There were numerous computer-like devices along the walls and around the room, though they were all in a darkened state.

That is all except for the one in the center of the room, which was ablaze with numerous pictures and reams of information displayed on a large screen in the middle of it. And sure enough, sitting in the chair at that computer with his back to her was Rodney staring intently at the screen in front of him.

Jennifer shook her head in amusement at the sight of him, hunched over slightly with his hand tapping absently at his chin and focused completely on the data in front of him. She began walking down the stairs making as much noise as she could so that when she got to the bottom she didn't end up scaring the life out of him. She had gotten down to the third stair when he turned in his seat and looked up to see who was intruding on his solitude. She was relieved to see a smile appear on his face when he realized it was her, but that relief vanished with heart rending swiftness when his smile flipped into a frown and he turned back to face the screen.

She stepped onto the floor a moment later and walked over to stand behind him. "Hey there," she said as normally as she could under the circumstances. "I thought we were going to have dinner together tonight."

He reached over and touched a control on the console and mumbled something intelligible.

"I'm sorry, Rodney," she said softly, almost afraid that if she spoke too loudly she'd spook him. "I didn't hear you."

"I'm too busy," he said sharply and much louder than was actually required.

Jennifer felt something tighten in her chest and moved to stand at his side so she could see at least part of his face. It sure didn't seem as though he was going to look at her. "Rodney, what's the matter?"

"Nothing more than usual," came his clipped reply. His focus on the screen intensified as he started inputting a series of commands. "I've been really busy, that's all. I am a very busy man, you know. There are some things around here- many things actually- that only I can do and I need to do them, so I do…do them, I mean."

Jennifer folded her arms across her chest and asked, "So does that mean that you've gone without dinner for the last three days?"

"What?" he exclaimed as he glanced irritably at her. "Of course not! Last night I had the ham and something that looked like mashed potatoes, though I hate to even hazard a guess as to what it actually was."

"So," Jennifer said, unable to keep the ache from her voice, "you just didn't want to have dinner with me?"

Rodney's face began to turn red as he looked up to her and stammered, "No that's not…of course I want…I just didn't have time to practice social etiquette," he stopped and turned his gaze back onto the computer in front of him. "I just have so much to do."

"Rodney," Jennifer said in a soothing voice, "Talk to me. What's wrong?"

Rodney shook his head and said excitedly, "Nothing is wrong, at least no more than usual. I just," his voice dropped to a tired sounding whisper, "have so much to do."

The exhaustion she heard in his voice tore at her heart. But there was something else that she could sense from him, something that she couldn't pinpoint. She reached over and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Rodney…"

She quickly drew back her hand as though she had been burned when Rodney jumped up out of the chair and quickly strode around the computer so that he was on the opposite side of it. Jennifer couldn't help but feel that it was a deliberate act on his part to stand where he was with the bulky computer between them.

In the seconds that ticked by as she waited for him to say something, she ran over the events of the last couple of weeks in her mind. Whenever they were together things went well. There were the usual Rodney moments- tipping over a gravy boat, dropping a banana on the floor, numerous odd and unfortunately timed comments- but nothing that she would consider warning signs that anything like this was coming. And as far as she knew, she never said or did anything to him to warrant his current behavior.

"Rodney, please talk…"

"I don't think it's a good idea for us to spend so much time together," he announced abruptly. His hands began their customary gesticulations as he went on. "It wouldn't work, you and me." He began pacing from left to right, though he made sure that he kept the computer in between them. "We're different- too different- and…we, that is I'm not sure I'm ready for a relationship." He stopped and his hands quieted as he turned to look at her and declared as if the end of the discussion was at hand, "There."

Jennifer needed a moment to process the gibberish he'd just spewed at her. They'd talked too much over the last couple of weeks about too many topics for her to believe that they had nothing in common. Nor could she believe, based on their previous discussions that Rodney wasn't at least willing to try a relationship, if that was where they were heading.

"Rodney," she said seriously, and according the way he stiffened slightly at her voice he caught it. "I don't believe any of that for a second." She sighed and took a step towards the computer just to get a little closer to him and she was encouraged when he didn't move farther away from her. "You've been avoiding me for three days and I'd like to know why?" She held out her arms as a supplementary gesture of confusion as she asked, "Was it something I said or did…"

"No!" interrupted Rodney with a wave of his hands to punctuate his response. He looked her in the eye, the first time he'd done so in a while and stated unequivocally, "No. You've been…you **are**," he hesitated and let his arms drop to his sides, "great, Jennifer."

Jennifer was confused more than ever. "Then what's going…"

"It's Elizabeth," he responded tiredly. He sank into the chair that had been positioned on that side of the computer and looked at her wearily.

The sight worried her deeply. She'd seen him go for hours without rest during a crisis and not look as tired as he did now. "Elizabeth," she repeated.

Rodney nodded and leaned back in the chair. "I've known…I mean I knew her longer than anyone on Atlantis," he said quietly. "Did you know that?" Without waiting for Jennifer to answer he said, "When she was asked to take over the Ancient outpost in Antarctica she came to me and asked me if I'd be interested in joining her." McKay smiled sadly and said, "I think I asked her if she was crazy. Of course I wanted to go." The ghost of a smile on his lips faded away and was replaced by another frown. "Anyway, she was one of my closest friends. When we lost her the first time I felt…I didn't know what I was feeling really, but I did know that I didn't like it, not at all. And now…and now she was here and she's gone again and I…"

He stopped and looked at her, and for the first time since she'd known Rodney McKay he was speechless.

"You're having those feelings again," she said. It was a simple deduction really.

He nodded and looked down to the floor.

"Rodney, we all have those feelings…"

"Well I don't want to!" he yelled as he vaulted up out of the chair, the loudness and sudden movement causing her to jump. He stopped and said, "I'm sorry," when he realized that he'd startled her. "I don't want those feelings anymore." He walked over to the chair he had been sitting in when she arrived and sat down in it.

"So you're what," she said quietly, "giving up on your friends? On what," she hesitated for a heartbeat as her throat constricted against her will, "could be?"

Rodney turned his head towards her, but not enough to actually look at her and said, "Yes."

Jennifer stood there in stunned silence trying to figure out what to do and what to say. The worst part of it was that she could see what he was trying to accomplish, though she certainly didn't agree with it. He wanted to build a wall around himself and cut himself off from those near him; to isolate himself from love and friendship so that if and when someone else died he wouldn't be affected by it, wouldn't feel the loss and the grief.

It looked good on paper, but she knew that it would leave him empty.

She thought long and hard for a way to convince him that the path he was trying to walk was the wrong one, was the opposite path of the one he should be taking. She struggled really, to find a way. Psychiatry was far from being her forte, and even her expertise in grief management wasn't as extensive as it could have been.

"_Grief!"_ she exclaimed excitedly to herself. _"This was all brought on by his grief over losing Elizabeth again!"_

And with that realization came hope that she could help him. Elizabeth was more than a friend and colleague for him. She was an example of how humanity should be: intelligent, strong and compassionate.

"I can leave here, Rodney," she said, surprised that her voice was as calm and steady as it was. "I can leave what could be behind and let you be alone. But tell me; is that what you really want?" She waited for an answer, and after thirty seconds of waiting she added firmly, "It's not what I want."

Jennifer turned and walked towards the stairs leading up to the exit. When she reached them she placed her left hand on the rail and turned her head so that she could see him as he turned to look at her. "Perhaps the most important question is, is that what Elizabeth would want for you, Rodney? Would she want you to be alone, without friends and without _love_?" She almost tripped over the word- it was the first time either of them had said it when talking about them. "Would she?"

She forced herself to turn around and begin to walk up the stairs. So heavy were her feet to lift that they seemed as though they were made of lead, and for some reason there seemed to be a lot more stairs than there had been on the way down. When she finally made it to the top she walked along the short catwalk and through the exit without looking back. She had said her piece and made her points as best she could.

Now it was up to him.

And perhaps Elizabeth.

-0-0-

Rodney collapsed back into the chair and stared at the doorway that Jennifer had just sailed through without even bothering to spare one last glance at him.

Not that he blamed her.

"_Is that what Elizabeth would want for you?" _he repeated in his mind.

He ran his hands roughly over his face and sighed.

"_Is that what Elizabeth would want for you?"_

He hated himself for hurting Jennifer like that. He had hoped that she would understand what he was trying to do, that it was for the best…for both of them. But he should have known he would end up hurting her.

"_Is that what Elizabeth would want for you?"_

Isn't that what he was trying to avoid doing, hurting people and being hurt?

"_Is that what Elizabeth would want for you?"_

She deserved someone who wouldn't hurt her like that.

"_Is that what Elizabeth would want for you?"_

And damn, he hated hurting her.

He looked to the exit again as Jennifer's voice rang loudly in his ears. _"Would she want you to be alone, without friends and without love?"_

Rodney sighed as he closed his eyes and brought a picture of Elizabeth up in his mind. Not Elizabeth as he'd seen her recently, that is to say in the physical manifestation of Fran, but Elizabeth as he had known her for so long.

"_Would she want you to be alone, without friends and without love?"_

Rodney opened his eyes and realized exactly what it was that Elizabeth would want.

-0-0-

Jennifer walked in through the open door to her quarters, took off her uniform coat and threw it onto her bed in an attempt to vent some of her frustration. She stopped and stared at the jacket as though it had offended her, which of course it hadn't, but she was hard pressed to remember why that mattered at the moment.

Her eyes lost their focus and she drifted to thoughts of Rodney and what he was going through, and what he was doing to himself and her. It was typical Rodney she supposed. He identified the problem as he saw it, determined a remedy and initiated it. She only hoped that his stubbornness hadn't taken a complete hold over him and he listened to what she had to say.

Her vision cleared and her gaze fell to her orphaned jacket. She walked over to her bed and picked the jacket up, then walked over to her desk and hung the jacket over the back of the chair there. She ran her hands over the shoulders of the jacket and then braced herself on the chair.

She never had a chance to get comfortable or delve further into her thoughts for the door chime sounded.

She really wasn't in the mood for company, but her sense of courtesy, long instilled within her, demanded that she open the door and see who it was. With a sigh she turned around and passed her hand over the sensor and waited a split second for the door to open.

She wasn't sure if she should have been surprised to find Rodney framed in the doorway or not, but she was.

"I'm sorry," he announced without preamble. "I never should have, I mean, it was inconsiderate…" He stopped and looked into her brown eyes. "I'm sorry."

Jennifer nodded, and then she reached over and took his arm in her hand and gently pulled him inside so that her door could close.

She could see panic in his eyes and she adored him for it.

"Rodney…"

"Oh my God you don't forgive me do you?" he said quickly, the panic she saw in his eyes manifesting itself in his voice as well. "I hurt you and you're never going to be able to forgive me and now you understand what everyone was trying to tell you about me and my insensitivity, though I think it's more like…"

He stopped talking when Jennifer reached over and silenced him by placing her index finger against his lips. And if she wasn't so happy and relieved that he was in her quarters apologizing for being an ass she would have found the way his eyes popped open hilarious in the extreme.

Jennifer removed her finger from his lips and smiled at the dense scientist. "Of course I forgive you, Rodney." She reached over and put her arms around his waist and cuddled into his chest, smiling as his arms wrapped around her too. "It's what friends," she stopped and reset her thoughts, "what people who care about each other do, isn't it?"

She felt his head nod against the top of her head as he said, "Absolutely. That's right, yes."

She was just about to say something else when a loud rumble seemed to reverberate throughout the room. At least that's the way it seemed to her, caught up as she was in the sheer embarrassment of how loudly her stomach growled with hunger.

She felt his hands move to her shoulders and gently move her away from him. She looked up at him when she figured the flush in her cheeks had eased and was once again surprised by what she saw there on his face and in his eyes. She was expecting a smirk or some other indication that he was amused at her and was about to make fun of her, but instead she saw concern and regret shine brightly in his eyes.

"You missed dinner?" he asked rhetorically. Self-loathing flashed across his face as he added, "Because of me…because I didn't come and you waited, and then you came to find me…" He stopped rambling and his face became set in determination. "Let's go get dinner."

Jennifer glanced to the clock sitting on her desk. 9:10- kind of late for dinner.

"Us?" she asked with a teasing smirk after deciding to ignore the issue of the late hour.

"That's what I said, wasn't it?" he said as he turned and opened the door. He turned back to her and added, "'Let's as in 'let us' go get dinner." He turned back towards the door and stepped through it saying as he disappeared around the doorframe, "Did medical school and all that biological jargon you were forced to digest boot your English knowledge out of your brain to make room?"

She smiled and waited, and sure enough three seconds later Rodney peered around the edge of the doorframe and looked at her. Realizing he'd opened mouth and inserted foot yet again, he edged around the doorway and stepped up to her.

"Sorry," he said quietly. When she smiled her forgiveness he held out his right hand to her and asked, "Will you please come to the Mess and have dinner with me?"

Jennifer nodded and she took his hand in hers saying, "I would love to."

"Good."

Instead of moving towards the door as she expected him to do, Rodney stayed perfectly still, with the exception of his fingers gently caressing her hand. He peered into her eyes and said with a serenity that piqued her curiosity, "You were right, by the way."

"Oh?" she asked. "About what exactly?"

Rodney gently squeezed her hand and replied with, "Elizabeth wouldn't want me to be alone. She'd want me to be happy." His courage seemed to leave him and he added meekly, "And spending time with you…that's what does it. That's what makes me happy."

"The same goes for me, Rodney," she said as she stepped closer to him. "Except when you make decisions that concern the both of us without talking to me."

Rodney nodded quickly, sufficiently chagrined as far as she was concerned.

Rodney looked as though he wanted to say more, but a second series of rumbles from her stomach made him think better of it, and he turned and led them through the door and down the hallway.

It wasn't until they were almost at the Mess that Jennifer realized that he never let go of her hand.

And she wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
